Now when I recommended people get this I never dreamed anyone would come out and say a $200 Kindle Fire would be better than a polished excellent device as the iPad at almost 3 times the price. I figured it would be pretty damn good and the thing about it that would be killer was that $200 price point.

This is quite the coup. I’m really eager to hear from those of you who got one yesterday or today in the mail from my initial recommendation

Summary: I have the new Kindle Fire from Amazon in my hot little hands and I’m not letting go. It’s going to take the tablet market by storm.

I thought about posting an article consisting of a single word to describe my first impressions with the Kindle Fire. The word is:

Wow

Figuring this might be a lacking a little in the detail department, I decided to write something longer. So here you go:

Wow!

Kidding aside, the Kindle Fire arrived at my doorstep in an unassuming brown cardboard box yesterday afternoon. I’ve spent several hours playing with it, trying different apps on it, and hooking it up to Eclipse to see if I could write and debug programs for it. And let me just say, I’m impressed.

The Kindle Fire is a sweet little tablet, exceeding my expectations in almost every way. Especially considering the $199 price. Where do I start?

The screen is bright and colorful, a pleasure to read and play.

The size is perfect; much easier to carry around than a 10 inch tablet. It even fits in my big pockets.

The Fire’s screen has true independent two-finger multi-touch. Games like Pew Pew 2 have no problem at all with their joystick-like controls.

All the Amazon user interfaces are beautifully designed and color coordinated.

Integration with the Amazon ecosystem of books, movies, and apps, is airtight and natural.

The Fire is fast! App switching, page turning, video watching, no matter what you throw at it, it just purrs along. I’ve read reviews about it being sluggish, but that hasn’t been my experience at all.

It uses the latest version of Android for which source code was available (2.3.4 API level 10). This is important because it’s the first version with decent APIs for native gaming. According to a source at Amazon who asked not to be named, they are working to port Android 4 to the Fire now that the code is available.

Amazon did a great job handling navigation with no hardware buttons without taking up a lot of the screen (better than stock Android 3.x or 4.x IMHO).

The Fire allows side-loading of apps, so I can install apps from web sites or email attachments (great for developers and enterprise users).

Paul Morrison Chimes in with a short review and answers to my questions–

I’ll write a longer review as soon as I get feedback from Sue who is an avid Kindle reader. But in answer to your questions:

How is the screen?
The clarity is amazing.

Did you watch any youtube videos on it?
Yes, within moments of thinking of youtube and typing Tim Minchin I had a selection of his youtubes, selecting Prejudice I was watching a crystal clear video in the right format. Nicely done. You don’t even have to think about it.

Did you access email on it?
Even though it is Sue’s I checked it out. Took about 30 seconds to put in some settings for one of my gmail accounts. Very simple and well laid out .

Is it a value at $200 and who is it the perfect gift for if so?
As I was messing with it just now and getting hooked on listening to the audio book of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (gotta buy that now) I think the answer is easy. This Kindle is for someone who wants to ingest input from the outside world. Movies, (the trailers look awesome) TV (samples look great), books (That is Amazon’s ecosystem), audiobooks. The layout to consume that stuff is simple, easy, elegant. I tried to think of myself as a grumpy old person born before the internet was invented and I could easily see figuring out the bookshelf and how to go get all of this stuff. Amazon is the perfect portal to all of that stuff. Buying stuff from Amazon.com also looks way to easy. 1 clickety click and the boxes show up.

I need to have Sue read a book to compare to the Kindle Reader. The fact that the screen is lit and not passive might be a dela breaker. Battery life might also be since the Kindle Reader lasts a month to the 8 hours on the Kindle Fire.

My last word: This thing is great because competition is what makes for good stuff. The iPad has some competition. They may lose the chunk of people who want to consume some good text/video. The iPad2 just has a lot more stuff. For the geek who wants everything this falls short but fortunately most of us aren’t geeks.

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I’ll write a longer review as soon as I get feedback from Sue who is an avid Kindle reader. But in answer to your questions:

How is the screen?
The clarity is amazing.

Did you watch any youtube videos on it?
Yes, within moments of thinking of youtube and typing Tim Minchin I had a selection of his youtubes, selecting Prejudice I was watching a crystal clear video in the right format. Nicely done. You don’t even have to think about it.

Did you access email on it?
Even though it is Sue’s I checked it out. Took about 30 seconds to put in some settings for one of my gmail accounts. Very simple and well laid out .

Is it a value at $200 and who is it the perfect gift for if so?
As I was messing with it just now and getting hooked on listening to the audio book of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (gotta buy that now) I think the answer is easy. This Kindle is for someone who wants to ingest input from the outside world. Movies, (the trailers look awesome) TV (samples look great), books (That is Amazon’s ecosystem), audiobooks. The layout to consume that stuff is simple, easy, elegant. I tried to think of myself as a grumpy old person born before the internet was invented and I could easily see figuring out the bookshelf and how to go get all of this stuff. Amazon is the perfect portal to all of that stuff. Buying stuff from Amazon.com also looks way to easy. 1 clickety click and the boxes show up.

I need to have Sue read a book to compare to the Kindle Reader. The fact that the screen is lit and not passive might be a dela breaker. Battery life might also be since the Kindle Reader lasts a month to the 8 hours on the Kindle Fire.

My last word: This thing is great because competition is what makes for good stuff. The iPad has some competition. They may lose the chunk of people who want to consume some good text/video. The iPad2 just has a lot more stuff. For the geek who wants everything this falls short but fortunately most of us aren’t geeks.

I just got mine and it was a snap to setup email and get started. Slim and sleek with an excellent screen. Easy to navigate, and I’m no techy. It needs a good set of earbuds as it’s external sound could be better and louder. I really like this, thanks to GMG and Joey for the heads up on a cool toy.

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As long as supplies last if any GMG folks want a bumper sticker but can't drop down the dock, just send a self addressed and stamped envelope longer then 7 and a half inches and I'll drop one in the mail for you.

Send the self addressed and stamped envelope to the dock at 95 East Main St Gloucester Ma 01930 care of Joey (put my name in big letters to make sure it gets to me)